Auditor on irregularities in public procurement

The level of budget spending irregularities in ministries is disturbingly high, said State Audit Institution (DRI) President Radoslav Sretenovic. He says that the 2009 budget audit revealed that five ministries violated the Public Procurement Law in a total amount of RSD 298mn. Auditor on irregularities in public procurement The DRI head told B92 that misdemeanor charges would soon be filed and that "criminal activity is suspected in some cases." Sretenovic also stressed that the DRI had not been dealing with the violation of the Public Procurement Law in detail, adding that almost every ministry failed to conduct a fuel voucher procurement in accordance with the law. “My assumption is that the reason for this is the fact that the ministries were getting the fuel directly from NIS (Oil Industry of Serbia) until December 31, 2008 and there was no obligation then to carry out the voucher procurement in accordance with the law. However, according to the changes to the law which came in effect on January 1, 2009, every audited entity is obliged to conduct the fuel procurement in accordance with the law,” he explained. The DRI has also noticed irregularities in construction business in the amount of RSD 200mn. The most common model of avoiding the law is to “buy something in an urgent procedure”. The auditor points out that transparency was this way disabled, that there was no competition among the producers since there was no public procurement, which affected the price. Sretenovic did not want to reveal against which ministries charges would be filed first. The DRI has audited the 2009 budget which covered about 70 percent of the state budget expenditures. The DRI audited seven ministries – Education Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Labor and Social Policy Ministry, Science and Technological Development Ministry, Finance Ministry, Infrastructure Ministry as well as the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) and the Treasury. Only the NBS received a positive assessment. Radoslav Sretenovic (Tanjug, file)

Auditor on irregularities in public procurement

The DRI head told B92 that misdemeanor charges would soon be filed and that "criminal activity is suspected in some cases."

Sretenović also stressed that the DRI had not been dealing with the violation of the Public Procurement Law in detail, adding that almost every ministry failed to conduct a fuel voucher procurement in accordance with the law.

“My assumption is that the reason for this is the fact that the ministries were getting the fuel directly from NIS (Oil Industry of Serbia) until December 31, 2008 and there was no obligation then to carry out the voucher procurement in accordance with the law. However, according to the changes to the law which came in effect on January 1, 2009, every audited entity is obliged to conduct the fuel procurement in accordance with the law,” he explained.

The DRI has also noticed irregularities in construction business in the amount of RSD 200mn. The most common model of avoiding the law is to “buy something in an urgent procedure”.

The auditor points out that transparency was this way disabled, that there was no competition among the producers since there was no public procurement, which affected the price.

Sretenović did not want to reveal against which ministries charges would be filed first.

The DRI has audited the 2009 budget which covered about 70 percent of the state budget expenditures.

The DRI audited seven ministries – Education Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Labor and Social Policy Ministry, Science and Technological Development Ministry, Finance Ministry, Infrastructure Ministry as well as the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) and the Treasury. Only the NBS received a positive assessment.